Longtime KDCCW leader Patty Johnson honored during sendoff reception
By Bill Brewer
An era really has come to an end for the Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.
A farewell reception for Patty Johnson was held on July 22 as the lay organization’s longtime leader has relocated with her husband to Nashville, which is the couple’s original home, to be closer to family.
More than two dozen KDCCW members from around the Diocese of Knoxville gathered with Father Dan Whitman at Mimi’s Café in Knoxville for the sendoff, which included a program emceed by KDCCW president Karen Meiring, a display of Mrs. Johnson’s volunteer work with the KDCCW through the years, a cake, gifts, and a reflection about Mrs. Johnson by each KDCCW member in attendance.
“We are hosting this luncheon to recognize her, thank her, and wish her well. Patty was our first KDCCW president when we became a separate diocese, and she also has served as president of the National Council of Catholic Women. She also has been active with the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic,” Ms. Meiring said before the event.
Father Whitman, who serves as the diocesan spiritual moderator for the KDCCW, led the group in prayer and also offered personal remarks about Mrs. Johnson’s service to the diocese, thanking her for saying yes to God in serving the Catholic Church in East Tennessee and being active in the Council of Catholic Women for more than six decades.
Father Whitman has been a spiritual adviser for the KDCCW for several years. Joining him as deanery spiritual moderators for the organization are Monsignor Al Humbrecht (Chattanooga), Father Ray Powell (Cumberland Mountain), and Father Joseph Kuzhupil (Five Rivers). Father Whitman also is the Smoky Mountain Deanery spiritual moderator.
Mrs. Johnson expressed gratitude for the farewell reception and to all the women of the KDCCW for making the organization a leader in lay ministry.
Her connection to the Council of Catholic Women predates the Diocese of Knoxville by almost 25 years, when East Tennessee was part of the Diocese of Nashville.
“I attended my first CCW meeting in 1964 when I was a member of St. Jude Parish in Chattanooga,” Mrs. Johnson said, explaining that she and her husband moved in 1968 to Knoxville from Chattanooga, where she joined the Junior Club of Catholic Women, a precursor to the KDCCW.
She and her husband would move back to Chattanooga, where she became president of the KDCCW’s Chattanooga Deanery.
“It wasn’t until we moved to Dayton, Tenn., at St. Bridget, that I really became involved. That was when the Knoxville Diocese was established in 1988. They asked me to serve as the first diocesan president to establish the CCW in the Diocese of Knoxville,” she said.
Shelton and Patty Johnson were members of St. Bridget for 30 years. They also were members of Sacred Heart Parish in Knoxville at one time. The couple was married at Christ the King Church in Nashville.
Mrs. Johnson recalls serving on Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell’s first planning committee, where the diocese’s mission statement and its goals were established.
Following her term as KDCCW president, she was asked in the early 1990s to serve as director of the Louisville Province CCW, which included a seat on the National CCW board. The Diocese of Knoxville is part of the Louisville Province, which also includes the Archdiocese of Louisville and the dioceses of Nashville, Memphis, Lexington, Ky., Covington, Ky., and Owensboro, Ky.
She then served with the CCW Associates as president for two years. This fundraising arm of the CCW supports the national organization’s education initiatives. She also was the CCW Region III vice president from 2005-07.
She then ran for president of the National Council for Catholic Women and was elected to a two-year term from 2009-11.
“During that time I did a whole lot of traveling. I traveled almost every month all around the country. They told me I was the most traveling president they ever had. At that time, we needed to promote the council, and I had developed a scarf that was a signature item, and I carried a suitcase full of those scarves everywhere I went. The ladies loved them. Just about every lady was adorned with a scarf by the time I finished. That was fun. I would talk about the council and ask the women to support us and be members. That was a real successful time for me,” Mrs. Johnson said.
Following her term as president, she served a two-year term as immediate past president of the NCCW. She would then complete a second two-year term as immediate past president.
“Altogether, I served 12 years on the national board,” she noted. “That meant traveling to Washington, D.C., twice a year and going to the conventions wherever they were held around the country.”
Patty Johnson, standing left, former president of the KDCCW and the NCCW, is the center of attention as current KDCCW president Karen Meiring, standing right, leads the recognition program at Mimi’s Café in Knoxville on July 22. Mrs. Johnson is relocating to Nashville with her husband after more than 60 years of CCW service in East Tennessee. (Photo Bill Brewer)
Among the many highlights of Mrs. Johnson’s service in the CCW was receiving the Our Lady of Good Counsel Award, the highest honor that the National Council of Catholic Women bestows. It recognizes a Catholic woman’s deep faith, outstanding leadership, and significant contributions to her parish, community, and the council network. Honorees must display a lifelong commitment to spirituality, service, and Gospel values in alignment with the mission of the NCCW.
She also noted the association she and the CCW developed with Cross Catholic Outreach, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based Catholic ministry that partners with bishops, priests, religious, and lay workers to provide food, water, housing, education, orphan support, medical care, disaster relief, economic opportunities, and the love of Jesus Christ to impoverished people in more than 30 countries.
Mrs. Johnson and her husband, Shelton, have been living in Fairfield Glade and have been members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish there for 25 years. She noted that her parish has developed a close relationship with Cross Catholic Outreach and its Kobonal Mission with Father Glenn Meaux in Haiti and also participates in Cross Catholic Outreach’s Box of Joy ministry.
Mrs. Johnson deeply values her time in the NCCW and the KDCCW and is grateful for the many people she has worked with through the years.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience. There have been so many opportunities to know people, to serve, and bring the Council to the parishes,” she said. “The sad thing about this is leaving East Tennessee. I haven’t been out of the Diocese of Knoxville for such a long time. This will be all new, but I think the Lord wants us there (Nashville) with our family. It will be all right.”
Among those speaking of Mrs. Johnson at the luncheon was Margarita Audette of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Alcoa, who also serves as president of the Smoky Mountain Deanery CCW.
Ms. Audette made one of several presentations to Mrs. Johnson.
“The Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women wishes to thank you for dedicating over 60 years of spirituality, leadership, and service to the women across the United States. We pray that you will be blessed as you embark on your new journey to Nashville,” Ms. Audette said.
“Today, we present to you a spiritual bouquet, a collection of 84 blessings, which are listed in this keepsake binder and are as follows: 48 rosaries said for you, 22 Masses, five Hail Marys, five Angelus prayers, two Our Fathers, one adoration hour, and one memorable prayer,” Ms. Audette continued. “A keychain has been handmade for you so you can carry all of the 84 blessings with you, reminding you that you are loved. There also is a keepsake bouquet that can open and close for easy transportation and a journal and pen for spiritual note-taking.”
The women in attendance gave Mrs. Johnson several ovations, including after she shared with them how much they and all the women active in CCW have meant to her. And they sang to her “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
“You all have outdone yourselves. I can’t believe all of this. This is wonderful,” Mrs. Johnson said. “It has been such a beautiful journey for me, the many years I’ve been here. Each one of you, we have had a very special relationship. And that is very important to me. I really will miss everybody. I can’t believe this is happening, but I think it’s what the Lord wants us to do right now.”
“Thank you for your many years of service, leadership, and discipleship. You are loved and you will be missed,” Ms. Audette concluded.
Included among several incentives Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are taking advantage of in returning to Nashville, such as being closer to grandchildren, is the fact that their son, David, was recently ordained a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Nashville and will be serving at St. Martha Parish in Ashland City.
As they return to Nashville, they will be members of St. Henry Parish, where Bishop Mark Beckman served before being named bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville.
The tributes Mrs. Johnson’s peers paid her were heartfelt with lots of love and respect. There also was a hint of sadness as their longtime leader departs for the Diocese of Nashville.
“KDCCW wanted to honor and thank Patty for her many years of service to CCW both here in our diocese and nationally. Her dedication, guidance, compassion, and friendship have been felt throughout our four deaneries over the years. We will miss Patty when she moves to the Nashville area, but we know she will always be a part of the KDCCW sisterhood through her spirit, love, and prayers,” Ms. Meiring said.
Although Mrs. Johnson will be in a different diocese, KDCCW members will take comfort in those prayers, spirit, and love.
And Mrs. Johnson will continue to be one of the biggest cheerleaders for Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church, and the Council of Catholic Women. In a cover story for the NCCW’s national magazine in 2019, the former NCCW president was quoted saying, “I truly rely on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He is always there to guide me when I need it most. All you have to do is be open to each opportunity and the Holy Spirit will guide you in the right direction. … I get to bring the face of Jesus to other people. … Our organization gives you all kinds of wonderful connections with wonderful people. Relationships are a vital part of Council.”
Her message has not wavered in all the years she has been involved in the CCW, including as a parish president, deanery president, diocesan president, province director, president of the Associates of NCCW, an NCCW board member, region vice president, NCCW president, and a member of the NCCW board of directors.
“I think CCW is certainly the way to go for women. It offers so many opportunities to serve, to grow in your spirituality, to have good friendships with women of like values. It’s important to also see the bigger Church on the diocesan level and even on the national level. It’s just a wonderful organization and it keeps you close to your faith,” Mrs. Johnson said during her farewell reception.
[Top photo: Patty Johnson of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Fairfield Glade, center, is shown with other past KDCCW presidents, from left, Eileen Widmer of All Saints, Karen Vacaliuc of St. Thomas the Apostle, Suzanne Erpenbach of All Saints, Pat Ryan of Immaculate Conception, Michelle Peckham of Sacred Heart, Susan Collins of Notre Dame, Sally Jackson of St. Joseph in Norris, and Anne Wharton of Holy Trinity, at Mimi’s Café in Knoxville on July 22.]